"With this vote, every human rights victim in China, from tortured Falun Gong practitioners to those imprisoned for advocating democracy, has been turned away at the door, which among all others should be open to them," said Xiao Qiang, executive director of Human Rights in China, an organization based in New York.

The United States also failed to get support for a vote condemning Cuba in as strong terms as Washington wanted. But a Czech-sponsored resolution passed that mentioned political repression and urged Cuba to honor promises to be more democratic. The resolution, backed by the United States, was a compromise.

American envoys dropped their calls for tougher condemnation in return for no mention of the American embargo on Cuba.

In other action yesterday, the human rights situation in Myanmar was declared "unacceptable" and Iraq was condemned for "systematic and extremely serious" abuses.

On China, the United States had proposed a relatively mild resolution that credited China's advances in improving the lives of its people while also pointing out areas still of concern in political, religious and civil rights.

"No country should consider itself beyond review," said Shirin Tahir-Kheli, the leader of the American delegation, before introducing the resolution.

China mustered 23 votes in the 53-nation commission to kill debate before it could begin. Though it lacked a majority, China prevailed when 17 nations voted against its "no action" motion and 12 abstained. One nation, Congo, was absent.

China had the backing of India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia and Thailand, among other democracies in the developing world. Voting against the Chinese motion, and with the United States, were most European members of the commission as well as Japan, Canada and Costa Rica. Other Latin American nations abstained, as did South Africa.

The voting followed a traditional pattern, leading some Western diplomats to conclude that the standoff between Beijing and Washington over the American spy plane did not significantly alter the results.

China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Qiao Zonghuai, did call attention to the incident in a speech, however. Qiao said the United States "had sent military planes to violate the sovereignty and people's right to life." He also mentioned racially motivated riots in Cincinnati and accused the United States of "rampant racial discrimination."